Pit-falls of Office- Vayeishev 2012/ 5773

So I'm debating running for
Knesset. It seems that everyone else is these days. Rosh Memshala/Prime
Minister Schwartz has a nice ring to it. I can start my own party aptly calling
it the Chulent party- Tet, Shin with a little apostrophe after it. My platform
will be a plate of chulent in every crockpot on Shabba,t or Chamin if you're
Sefardic. We will also promise to expand our mandate to include
vegetarians-respecting their right to avoiding the pleasures that the rest of
us holy carnivores have (more cow for the rest of us). In this very divided country of ours, which
thank god has no serious problems or issues to deal with; we have peaceful
neighbors, plenty of housing, cottage cheese is cheap, wehave a backup of everyone who wants to serve their country equally and an educational system
that is better than any third world country out there, it's time for us to
focus on the important issues that plague our country. The lack of a Schwartz
representation in any important government position (Northern regional director
of Synagogue development for the Young Israel/ tour guide/ mortgage broker/
shlepper for Ameri-$-Kana new and lightly used clothes-my wife's business/ and
tzimmer owner- is just not enough for me) and the heart-wrenching (and burning)
lack of quality Shabbat chulent/stew on many peoples plates.

Think about it, I know a lot of important
things that can help this country. I can tell you the history of the Crusader
and Mamluk periods, what rock formation the eilat mountains are made of (actually
I kind of forgot that one already L) and where the best
kayaking and mehadrin restaurants are located. I know used clothing prices and
how the banking system works (you give them money- they charge you, you
withdraw-they charge you, you yell at them- they reverse the charges). Most importantly
I know how people like their chulent. It makes them happy. A little herring,
some crackers and rugelach and every so often Yerushalmi Kugel and all your problems go away. I am also planning
on running a clean campaign. I will not bring up the flip-flops, false promises
and criminal pasts of most other Knesset members (Although I will quote- Natan
Sharansky- the soviet refusenik and former member of Knesset who once said
convincingly that he believes he is the only person in Knesset who sat in
prison…before he got to Knesset). It's just me and you. A Jewish country based
on principles of democratic chulent and kugel for all. I will even make a
constitution that says that. All will share equally in this burden. We will
finally be one.

Now as I begin to launch my
campaign I will strategize using the Torah and of course our weekly portion, I
have to write this weekly E-Mail anyways so why not cook two chulents in the
same pot. See, efficiency- that's what you'll get from me. Our Parsha this week
starts out with the story of the first Jewish leader running a campaign for
leadership of the Jewish people, or at least the tribes of Israel; our
forefather Yosef.

Let's see what we can learn from
his successes and his pit-falls (excuse the pun). Yosef starts his campaign at
the young age of 17 launching it with his famous "I had a dream"
speech. In his dream he saw his brothers sheaves of wheat bowing down to his
sheave of wheat. Not the most inspiring speech I imagine. It didn't really go
over well. After all who is really interested in wheat- now barley, beans and
meat that might have gone over a little better. So Yosef ups the ante. He
promises them the stars. In his next dream he even includes his father Yaakov
and mother as all coming and bowing to him. That didn't seem to work too well
either, although his father according to the text "guarded the matter".
Only a Jewish parent could still have hopes for this kid. Yosef, however ends
up in the bottom of a pit, sold to Egypt and lands himself in prison with not
so savory allegations pressed against him. One can imagine the tweets going on.
So perhaps Yosef is not the best model for our campaign.

We turn then to the next future
leader of the tribes of Israel. Yehudah starts his campaign with a unique strategy.
He stands up for his competition and brother Yosef who was thrown into a pit
declaring "What gain can you have from killing our brother and covering
up his blood". Pretty amazing and counter-intuitive for someone who himself
was meant to be the leader of the tribes. Yehudah however hedges, rather than
returning Yosef to his father, he attempts
to get him out of the picture by selling him down to Egypt. Yaakov is of course
inconsolable. Yehuda is blamed for this and he himself is sent away where he
also get caught up in an unsavory scandal and tragedy. Things do not look good
for the leadership of this people. If we don’t learn from these mistakes and
their consequences, 3000 years later we will continue to fail to create the nation
Hashem wants us to become. So who will we model our campaign on?

Let's take a look at the story of
Chanuka. We have a major world empire that is destroying the pillars of our
faith. The nation has left God, embraced Hellenism, Greek parties, the Temple
has become pagan and there doesn't seem to be anyway to turn back the clock.
And then the Maccabees come into the picture.A small Jewish family with no aspirations of greatness launch their
campaign with a call "Mi Kamocha Ba'Eilim
Hashem- who is like you among heavenly powers Hashem (the
acronym of MaKaBI)". They pick up a sword themselves, without delegating it
to anyone else. No one has to bow down to them. No one has to anoint them king
(in fact their downfall only comes years later after the first Chasmonai
descendant takes the political office as king). They restore the Temple, light
simple lights and bring us the first independent Jewish government in Israel.
Now, although we know the names of the Chashmonaim Matityahu, Yehuda, Yochanan
Yonatan, Elazar and Shimon, we barely mention them in the additional prayers we
say to commemorate the holiday of Chanuka. Imagine talking about the
establishment of Israel without Ben Gurion, Chaim Weizman, Jabotinsky, Herzl).
The reason is because the Chashomanim were never seeking political office or
any self-promotion or leadership. They were fighting a battle for Hashem. The
less their names were "out there", the more that the commemoration
was about Hashem and the miracles He performed, the greater the success of
their life's mission was.

Let's turn back to Yosef again,
in next week's portion he makes his comeback. But he is a new Yosef. He no
longer is trying to get anyone to bow down to him. He in fact tells Pharoh with
sincere humility and a desire to help save the Egyptian populace that all he
has is from Hashem. He seeks no recompense or place in the Egyptian Knesset.
And what do you know? From there he is chosen and rises to becoming second in
command to Egypt. Yehuda as well in this week's portion once again begins his
rise to greatness when he puts aside any political aspiration by confessing
that Tamar, who was the threat to his leadership, was more righteous than him-
pulling her out of the "pit of death" and this time however restoring
her to her place of glory, as she becomes the mother of the future kings of
Israel and the line of David.

So perhaps announcing my campaign
at this time is not such a good idea. Real Jewish leaders never came out of
political campaigns. Our greatest heroes and leaders were individuals that
looked at the world saw a lack of Hashems' presence and took upon themselves the
responsibility to change the world. Starting with themselves, their families,
their communities, the Jewish people and eventually the world. Bit by bit…
candle by candle. Each home its own little light adding a spark each day. The
world needs us. We are all part of the mandate. May we merit bringing the spark
of Chanuka to the world.

Have a spectacular Shabbos and
Chanuka,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

****************************************

RABBI
SCHWARTZES VIDEO OF THE WEEK –Funny Bris clip- the Greeks tried to stop us and
we're still at it with pride J

Maccabee
graves- right off the road from Modi'in to
Jerusalem one can pass a sign that directs you to the grave of the Maccabees.
The site goes back to the early 1900's when a group of school children with
their teacher asked some local arabs where the graves are and they were
directed to "kubur-al Yahud" an ancient jewish cemetery. Unfortunately
most experts acan see that the graves are from a later Byzantine period rather
than early Hashmonai from the style of the graves and possibly even pagan or Christian.
Oops.. Josephus describes the graves of the Chashmonaim as being these big
pyramid like pillars with armor and carved ships. If Josephus is telling the
truth (which is always questionable) these are not them. Other suggestions of
the site was sheik-al jabreihh where some graves and ruins where found but was discounted
because of a crucifix of which was a church floor instead. Some suggest it may
be in Al midyeh or other digs in the area. All in all we don’t know where they
are.. Maybe that is the way they wanted it J

RABBI
SCHWARTZES QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In
my country we go to prison first and then become President ~ Nelson Mandela

Answer

Answer is
D-Juba Located in Israel's most volcanic area Jubas are craters that were
formed either by Volcanic gas being expelled from the earth without any lava (kinda
of like and volcanic burp) one can see the big juba in the Odem forest in the
upper Golan heights that is about 250 meters wide and 60 meters deep.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Hi, thanks for popping in. I am a recent Oleh. My wife Aliza and children Shani, Yonah, Rivkah, Elka and Tully recently moved to Karmiel Israel from Seattle Washington where we used to have a little Shul in our home the West Seattle TLC (Torah Learning Center). I have been involved in Jewish educational outreach for over 15 years. Originally a Detroiter, we have been lucky enough to live in Midwood New York, Des Moines Iowa, Norfolk Virginia and Seattle. I'm just a down to earth guy who would rather talk in the front of the shul than the back so i became a Rabbi where that becomes your job. I love Jews,Stories, Israel, and chulent. Recently we opened up the Young Israel of Karmiel and look forward to greeting the many North American and Anglo Olim who will join us here in the beautiful Galil.
Please comment away I thrive on your input. Thanks!

Young Israel of Karmiel Matanot L'Evyonim Purim campaign 2016

Rabbi Schwartz's Most Enjoyable Pesach Book

$25 plus shipping

Holyland Insights and Inspiration Weekly sponsorship

To Subscribe to weekly Email click here

Thanks for signing up!

Sign up for our weekly Insights Email list

Holyland Insights is your weekly Inspiration delivered for free to your E-Mail containing inspirational thoughts on the Torah portion, cool things about Israel, Jokes, Cool Youtube clips and more...join hundreds each week and who knows you may even decide to sponsor one

Email Address

First Name

Last Name

By submitting this form, you are granting: HOLYLAND INSIGHTS, 10 Eshel, Karmiel, , , Israel, permission to email you. You may unsubscribe via the link found at the bottom of every email. (See our Email Privacy Policy for details.) Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.